Concrete Countertops?

Discussion in 'BS Forum' started by stinkyB, Mar 17, 2018.

  1. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    I feel for you, I've had a few houses like that.
     
  2. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    Do you mean for the counter or the backsplash? You can do the latter... just take your time

    Some laminate looks nice these days, but one thing I wanted after staying with my folks for awhile was an "undermount" sink.... nice to just wipe all the bullshit right into the sink. Cant do that with laminate, and it's probably not the best to do that with wood, and thats why I didnt (although I've seen plenty of people online that have... but that's too much maintenance for me)

    Check on Craigslist for the lumber, that's how I found the slabs I got. Scored 2 6'x2'x1.5" Pecan slabs for $85 each! The only other harder american wood is Hickory. Cedar is alot more prevalent though.... albeit harder to find bigger pieces. You could prob get away with one that's 18"
     
  3. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    Laminate is on the floors, my knees and back just can't take another big tile job so it was laminate or wood. I am going stone on countertops, also with the undermount sink, and glass mosaic tile backsplash so that I can do the entire space between the countertops and underside of upper cabinets.

    Son gets his slabs on Amazon and Craigslist so that is where he is looking, I have a while before I am ready to do the bar though. From what I have seen most of the red cedar the right length for me is either boards or mantles, haven't really seen many single pieces the right size. Will probably go with 2 or 3 mantles for the top with a hammered metal banding toward each end to bring them together and then layer after layer of urethane. It's a dark room so I think that is the way to go unless I can find a nice live edge and I'll have son do the top. He can run resin in the center with colored LED lights embedded in the resin.

    Before I finished typing this I checked Craigslist again and found a guy right near me with some southern red cedar slabs. Ad says slabs from $50-$150 so I'll have to check it out.
     
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  4. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    They make some quality Vinyl plank tile now..... way easier than tile and nicer on your feet (and the good stuff is waterproof). I would've used it if I didnt already spend over 2G on tile (plus I wanted the slab sealed underneath in case of another potential flood)

    Do a test piece with the glass mosaic.... sometimes they look really cool, sometimes theyre obnoxious. I ran a pattern strip in one of the showers and ended up ripping it out because I hated it. You gotta have the modern look thing going on...

    I'm planning on routing out a strip on the underside of the bar overhang for LEDs as well.... ones that can change colors to green (for gameday) :cool: I ALMOST ran fiber optics in my countertops, but figured since this was my first time, it was probably best to dumb down the playbook, and went with those glowstones instead
     
  5. CBG

    CBG Well-Known Member

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    Priceless
     
  6. Dierking

    Dierking Well-Known Member

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    Wow, that’s really nice work. Good for you.
     
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  7. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    Thanks man... been alot of work, but I'm pretty happy with most of it, and have learned alot along the way. Still plenty to go.
    Gonna try and knock out a backsplash in the other bathroom today (where I poured a small vanity top)
     
  8. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    Well ended up tearing out the master bedroom and walk in closet laminate floor and returning all 1600 sq ft of it. Glad I got those rooms done before focusing on tearing out walls and putting in kitchen cabinets since it gave me a couple of weeks to find out this brand was cheaply made and corners were already popping up. If I had the whole house already done probably would have had to live with it. Ended up going with Nucore vinyl plank from Floor and Decor and it goes in like a dream. Lifetime warranty and waterproof.

    Also decided to go with granite for the tops, picked out some slabs on Tuesday and they were already out on Wednesday to template and they said install should be by this coming Friday. Cheaper than the big box stores and way quicker. Home Depot was telling us 4 week minimum.

    Wife is already moved away from the glass mosaic for the back splash. Rented a condo on Indian Shores last weekend and they had a very similar granite to what we are getting but the back splash was glass subway tile. I'm sure that will change by next week also.
     
  9. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    Those small mosaics or the narrow strips actually defeat the purpose of why the backsplash is there - to make cleaning easy. It's the grout, regardless of how well sealed, that collects dirt and grease - the more grout, the harder it is to keep clean; the smaller the tile, the higher percentage of grout area per square foot. That's also why in a backsplash it's best to go with the narrowest grout line recommended and select a grout color a little darker than you would anywhere else. With mosaics mounted on a sheet there's nothing you can do to adjust the spacing short of taking them off the sheet and mounting each tile individually.
     
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  10. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    yep, those "mosaic" backsplashes look great in magazines, but if you're actually a cook...... the tumbled marble I used had too much grout as it is but the nature of the product led to some bigger joints (heheh) due to the edges.... but yeah, make sure to use a sealer after install.

    "Aquamix" works pretty well and you can find it at HD (won't darken "color enhance" the stone) about $25 bottle (worth the extra $ over the other brands) I did 2 coats..... worked better than the "tilelab" I used on my floors
     
    #50 stinkyB, May 13, 2018
    Last edited: May 13, 2018
  11. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    yep, one of those "get what you pay for" things.... I think Nucore was one of the samples I saw and liked (but I already had 1000' of tile delivered to the house and halfway through install at that point)

    How much was your granite installed? $55 / ft?
     
  12. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    $38 / Ft installed plus $250 for the undermount sink cut and mount. Just went with a standard edge, nothing fancy. The slab was a pretty common color so that kept the price down too. Figured it would grab the graphite color of the sink, small spots of red for the red cedar walls and the beige is a good match for the toasted almond cabinets. When they first told me their price and I was standing in their really small office I was a little hesitant, figured something was up, but then we started talking about some of their jobs and they are working on some of the biggest fanciest homes around here. Excellent reviews also.

    Santa Cecelia
    [​IMG]
     
  13. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 2018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    When I was in Korea, I had a girl do something like that on my bed after a night of too many Soju kettles.
     
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  14. Dierking

    Dierking Well-Known Member

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    I'm told that's what's known as the "Cosby Sweater"
     
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  15. joe

    joe Well-Known Member

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    First thing that came to mind, Frank Pepe's white clam pie..
    [​IMG]

    .
     
    #55 joe, May 14, 2018
    Last edited: May 14, 2018
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  16. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    Got the new floor in, all appliances in and counter top installed today. Need to hook up the sink, install a few more knobs and pulls and the kitchen will be mostly done. Will still need to tear out the window over the sink to open it up more and put the back splash in but that will be a couple of weeks down the road. Decided to go back to work so might slow me up a bit now.
    [​IMG]
     
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  17. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    With all the color on the counter and elsewhere we are either going with either tin/thermoplastic with a tin look panels or 3x6/4x12 beige tiles. No way the glass mosaic was going to work with everything else. Picture below was from lowes but very close to my cabinets and top, figured the oil rubbed bronze would work.
    [​IMG]
     
  18. Ralebird

    Ralebird Well-Known Member

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    Be careful with the pressed tin or fake pressed tin that cleaners strong enough to remove grease won't take the antiquing or patina off the panels. I used handmade English 3 x 6 subways in a light cocoa color in a spec house that sold for almost $3 million that had a caesarstone top very similar in color to the one in the picture and cabinets almost identical. The tile color was a dead on match for one of the splotch colors in the top and was part of the reason the buyers made the deal. The room was big with lots of light so the richness of the color didn't come across too dark.

    One thing I find odd in the "beauty shot" above is that they have that low splash in the countertop material instead of showing the tin panels coming right down to the top which would be cheaper, simpler to install and have a "cleaner" look. Good luck.
     
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  19. The Waterboy

    The Waterboy Well-Known Member

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    Yes, in the picture above I don't know why they would use what looks like a prefab formica top with the attached backsplash but maybe just trying to show DIY homeowners what they could do. I am leaning toward the tile but have to look at a few more samples. That is going to be a few weeks down the road anyway as I need to remove the window,open the wall up a little, and recenter the light above it.
     
  20. stinkyB

    stinkyB 2009 Best Avatar Award Winner

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    IMO that shit looks nice in pictures....... until you have to dust / wipe off all those ridges and recesess ;)

    I'd go with something similar to your floor, or just a white subway tile.... and run it up to the soffit / around window
     

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